Pit bulls far outpace other breeds in bite reports

But animal control workers say many breeds are mislabeled, so the numbers are misleading

March 8, 2013|By Brittany Wallman, Sun Sentinel

Lola's crime was attacking and killing a tabby cat named Skippy.

Lola's human family and friends swore she was friendly and got along well with people and animals. Letters poured in to the county, vouching for the pit bull's character. Her owner sent a stack of cute photos, including one of Lola eating out of a cottage cheese container, and he even sent a Powerpoint presentation on disk.

But Lola's collar and licenses were found at the gruesome scene, and now she's officially marked as one of the county's dangerous dogs.

Her case file is just one in a thick stack at Broward County Animal Control, where many of the bite complaints aginst pit bulls are lodged. A review of dog attacks in Broward County reveals that more complaints of pit bull bites were made last year in Broward than of any other dog breed. The same trend held true in Palm Beach County.

No other breed came close.

The unfavorable statistics are one reason Broward County is debating whether new laws are needed to control just one type of dog — dogs like Lola.

In Broward, seven of the 13 dogs labeled aggressive or dangerous because of their bite histories are pit bulls. Four of the five active cases of dogs being considered for those labels are pit bulls.

About half of the 305 dog attacks reported in Broward County last year were the work of pit bulls, county records show. Many of the attack victims were other, smaller animals, like Skippy.

The next closest breed was the German shepherd, with just 23 reports.

"With those types of numbers, how could we sit by and ignore that?" said Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief, who proposed that pit bulls be banned, like they are in Miami-Dade County.

Sharief dropped the proposal last month in the face of great opposition, but formed a committee to bring forward changes in the dog ownership laws.

She said her time in the county's dog bite court confirmed what she was hearing in her southwest Broward district, where she said homeowners consistently told her pit bulls were causing problems.

"We have an issue," she said. "If you go [to county dog court], 90 percent of those dogs that are biting are not registered, not vaccinated and have been bred in these neighborhoods and they're not following the rules. We need to find out a way to make those owners more responsible."

The city of Hollywood wants a pit bull ban as well, adding it to the city's legislative agenda because it would require a change in state law.

In Miramar, Commissioner Alexandra Davis wrote a letter of support and sent in a petition signed by city residents backing Sharief's proposed ban, saying "I can attest to the fact that our residents, especially in the eastern section, have a constant problem with these dangerous dogs."

Davis theorized that because of Miami-Dade's ban, people who want to own the dogs move to nearby Miramar.

Boxes and boxes at the county are filled with dog bite complaints and reports of dogs running loose, and a large number are pit bulls.

There's Bandit and Smokey, pit bulls blamed in an unprovoked attack on "Mrs Simons Pomeranian dog name Tang." There's Maximus and his housemate Bella, an American bulldog, photographed on the front lawn and in the street without leashes. They were blamed in the killing last July of Mayhem, a family cat in Fort Lauderdale.

"When I screamed, the dogs took off and left the cat lying on the deck with her intestines hanging out," Mayhem's owner wrote to the county. Her vet bill was $573, including $71.50 for euthanasia, and $88 for cremation.

Nellie, a 3-year-old pit bull in Cooper City, attacked a child. The dog was running at large and tore at the child's elbow. Her reconstructive surgery bills are itemized in the county's dangerous dog files, and they total more than $15,000.

But breed-specific legislation, or even breed-specific complaining, is highly controversial.

Some dog experts say it's nonsense fueled by the undue attention given to attacks by pit bulls.

Karen Koenig, director of Broward County animal control, said not all bites are reported to the county and guessed bites from dogs that are not pit bulls could be underreported.

Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control Division Director Dianne Sauve said complaints about dog bites are misleading. People don't necessarily know what breed a dog is, and a lot of mislabeling occurs.

"I think people call any dog with a square head a pit bull," Sauve said.

About 23 percent of the 1,411 bites on humans reported in Palm Beach County last year were categorized as pit bulls or breeds considered pit bulls -- American Staffordshire terriers, or American bull terriers.

"Pit bull type dogs are a big bucket where anything with pit bull-type characteristics can be lumped into," said David Walesky, operations manager in Sauve's division.